The man who appeared to be the commander wore full-body armor and sat astride a Golem horse.
Two large dogs accompanied him; they were likely how the party had been tracked.
(They're using dogs... There were hardly any four hundred years ago. I suppose that counts as a type of progress,) Jin mused idly.
Meanwhile, the pursuer called out to Lordtoss.
"I will say it once more, Lordtoss-dono. I ask that you return with us."
"So you are the commander of the pursuit, Zelga Somunt-dono?"
It seemed the commander and Lordtoss were acquaintances, Jin noted.
"Now, return."
"And if I say... no?"
"Then I shall have to bring you back by force. Surround them!"
Twenty golems moved to encircle Jin, Lordtoss, and Hope.
"I apologize, but you must be prepared to lose an arm or a leg."
"I’d rather avoid anything painful. 'Wind Hammer'!"
"Whoa!?"
Lordtoss suddenly unleashed an advanced-level wind-attribute spell, "Wind Hammer."
Three golems were sent flying. However, the attack failed to deal any significant damage; the three golems tumbled back about ten meters but stood back up immediately, as if nothing had happened.
"...So being combat models isn't just for show."
"Indeed. There is still time. Surrender."
"I refuse."
"Then it cannot be helped... At—"
Just before he could utter the final syllable of the command to attack, two golems abruptly collapsed.
"Wh-What!?"
"Do it, Hanako!"
"Yes, Master."
The automata Hanako had been launching precision strikes from outside the perimeter, remaining completely undetected by the golems.
"Oh, impressive," Jin remarked, admiring her performance.
Combat golems that likely outweighed her ten to one were being tossed about like kindling.
"Hmm, good movement. Is the skeleton... adamantite?"
While observing Hanako's efficiency, Jin performed an analysis out of habit.
"Wh-Wha-Wha..."
The commander's face turned pale as he witnessed the scene.
"Th-The combat golems are no match for her? I-I can't believe such a powerful automata exists!"
In the meantime, Hanako proceeded to incapacitate a second and third golem.
"She's using magi-craft to disable them... That's an efficient way to fight."
As far as Jin could see, Hanako was using 'Separation' to destroy the joints of the enemy golems. Without fixed fulcrums at the joints, no amount of raw strength could be translated into force.
"It seems they don't have any anti-magic measures..."
Just then, one golem lunged toward Jin.
"Leave this to me."
Hope handled it with ease. After being thrown twice, the golem stopped moving. Its internal magi-circuit must have been damaged. The mock battle they had previously held with Groma Tray's golem had clearly been valuable experience.
At the same time, Jin had his 'Protect Ring' activated, allowing him to block any magical stray bullets without issue.
"Against golems of that level, I wouldn't even flinch if I were hit."
Furthermore, he felt perfectly safe against physical attacks for the time being.
"U-Ugh...! You were hiding your true strength!"
"The World Conference should have warned you numerous times," Lordtoss countered. "Why must neighboring countries fight one another? Why will you not join the World Conference? You are closing off your own future."
"We will not accept such interference! We will walk our own path!"
"Why are you so stubborn? If you trace back your origins, are you not a nation that split off from the Conference Countries?"
"That was long ago! Generations have passed, and we are independent!"
"Independent? Hardly. You cannot survive without importing various goods from the Conference Countries."
"We pay for them!"
"That is true. However, the Conference Countries do not necessarily desire that compensation. Rather, the trade is meant as a form of aid to you."
"Ugh..."
Zelga Somunt was left speechless.
Watching from the side, Jin surmised that this man named Zelga likely held a position of significant status.
During the exchange, the number of functional combat golems continued to dwindle. Hanako had taken down fifteen, and Hope had neutralized five.
Before long, as the wilderness began to brighten with the dawn, only the incapacitated golems remained, along with Zelga, Jin, and Lordtoss still mounted on their Golem horses. Hanako and Hope stood ready at their side.
Incidentally, the two dogs had fled the moment the battle began.
"Urgh..."
"Now, Zelga-kun, any further effort is futile. Give up and go back. And report this: 'I was unable to capture them.'"
"..."
Zelga Somunt did not respond.
"Jin-san, let us go."
Ideally, they would have liked to stop for breakfast, but they couldn't exactly eat in the middle of a battlefield. Ignoring the frozen Zelga, Jin and Lordtoss urged their Golem horses toward the rising Sun Celane.
"W-Wait!"
A voice was thrown at their backs. It was Zelga.
"Do you really think you can get away with this? You are already in the Norha Principality. Crossing the border like this is a capital crime!"
At those words, Lordtoss replied without even looking back.
"That is your law. I am a foreigner; I am not bound by such things. Is it not a much greater crime to abduct and imprison me?"
"Ugh..."
This time for certain, Jin and Lordtoss rode away.
"...Setting aside that Zelga man, aren't the people of the Jagus Principality a bit strange? Ah, I mean 'strange' in an ideological sense."
"It certainly seems that way... Come to think of it, I heard that long ago, Jin-san, you liberated my clan from a brainwashing magi-device called 'Agujha'."
"Ah, that."
It had been a rebellion by a homunculus who called itself 'Negadoll'. The fact that the demon race of that era had been hostile toward humanity was also because of that device.
"However, I didn't discover anything like that inside their brains," Lordtoss continued. "Beyond that, there are 'Hypno', 'Seduce', and 'Subliminal', which are designated as forbidden spells, but I don't sense any traces of those either."
"I see..."
Furthermore, Lordtoss noted that they had found no magi-devices or spells with the effect of 'Charm', which Elena—who once controlled the Unifilar—had possessed.
"In that case, either people with those kinds of ideologies naturally gathered together..."
"Or they used some unknown method... right?"
It wasn't something they wanted to think about much, but the possibility couldn't be denied.
"I wonder if they realize the folly of fighting on this narrow Ars."
"Maybe their eyes would open if we forcibly dragged them out into the void of space," Jin said half-jokingly.
Just how vast space was. How small the world they lived in was by comparison. How insignificant it was to fight over such a tiny speck. If they recognized that, their perspective might change.
"Ah, that might actually work," Lordtoss agreed with a smile.
An hour after sunrise, Jin and the others traveled through a small stream for a short distance before crossing to the opposite bank to throw off the dogs' noses.
By around seven o'clock in the morning, they halted their travel and finally ate breakfast. Hanako and Hope kept watch on the surroundings.
"We will continue across the Norha Principality just like this."
Lordtoss assured him they had plenty of food, and water could be replenished with 'Condense'. With their meal finished, the party resumed their journey toward the east.