Jin continued his analysis of the golem with Lordtoss's assistance.
"This structure..."
It was clearly not part of Adriana Barbora Tsetse's lineage of craftsmanship.
"Could it be the Magic Federation...?" Lordtoss murmured, peering at the internal components.
"The Magic Federation?"
It was a name Jin had only just heard from Sion the other day.
"Yes. They are a group that opposes... or rather, loathes Avalon."
"Loathes them, huh."
Jin proceeded to decompile the information stored within the control core.
"...This golem definitely belongs to the Magic Federation."
However, the reason they were so intent on destroying Reiko remained a mystery. Regardless, there was no time to lose.
"I won't let them break my Reiko."
Jin left the disassembled golem where it lay and boarded Pegasus 2 once more.
"I’m going to wipe them out."
He intended to subject them to the same fate as the unit he had just captured.
He began circling the area, unleashing a barrage from his ether eliminator, Magic Canceller, and various Magi-Jammers. Within moments, every moving golem in the vicinity had ceased to function.
To be absolutely certain, he checked his magi-radar. It showed zero movement.
"Good."
Now all that remained was to find Reiko. That, however, was the difficult part.
"I wonder how they knew she was around here in the first place."
The information hadn't been in the control core he’d examined, which was to be expected.
"Regardless, I have to find her before any more of them show up."
At this point, Jin realized it was highly likely that Reiko was either stopped or in sleep mode.
"In that case... right."
Jin thought for a moment and remembered that Reiko was also wearing a Fellowship Bracelet. If he could track its mana... Jin began adjusting the settings on his magi-radar. Contrary to his hopes, however, there was no response.
"Is she not wearing the bracelet, or..." Jin trailed off, lost in thought. "...Or perhaps she shielded herself to ensure she wouldn't be found easily?"
If that were the case, how was he supposed to locate her?
"Hmm..."
Jin pondered the situation. Reiko surely knew he would come looking for her. If so, she might have left a sign that only he would understand. But what could it be?
"I can't pin it down..."
The problem wasn't a lack of ideas, but too many. He had no way of knowing which one she might have chosen as a marker. For instance, she might have left a message in Japanese about something only the two of them knew. But what would that "something" be? And what form would it take? There were so many possibilities that he couldn't narrow his search.
"It's probably something visual," Jin decided.
He directed Pegasus 2 higher into the sky. Dawn had broken while he worked, and the surface below was becoming clearly visible.
"Let's go up to one kilometer."
The sky was cloudless and the air was crystal clear. Pegasus 2 climbed rapidly.
Then, he saw it.
"Is that...?"
A pattern was visible on the ground below.
"A geoglyph!"
Jin pushed Pegasus 2 even higher, reaching an altitude of roughly three kilometers.
"Oh, now I see it."
A balloon or an airship would never reach such an altitude. Reiko must have calculated that only someone with a high-performance aircraft—in other words, Jin—would ever notice it.
Spreading out beneath him was a massive geoglyph that far eclipsed the ones in Nazca.
"It's Hourai Island..."
Though it was faded and worn in spots, the shape was unmistakable. It featured Mount Hourai, Tatsumi Bay, and other defining characteristics. Mount Hourai, in particular, had been represented by utilizing a natural hill.
Indeed, no one aside from the Jin Family would know the exact layout of Hourai Island.
"If that's the case... is she at the summit of Mount Hourai? No, probably not."
A random passerby who happened to spot the drawing might investigate the summit out of curiosity.
"The laboratory."
The place where Jin and Reiko had first met—or more accurately, the place where Jin had been summoned. He was certain that was where Reiko would be waiting.
"Reiko, I'm coming for you."
With the map of Hourai Island clear in his mind's eye, Jin slowly brought Pegasus 2 down toward the location corresponding to the laboratory.
"It should be right around here."
Jin disembarked and walked the perimeter with Hope to pinpoint the exact spot. He found a protruding rock roughly the size of a bench, which he imagined was meant to represent the laboratory building.
"I should dig here."
"Oh, let me help with that," Lordtoss offered. He had been feeling useless up until now.
"Dig. Dig. Dig."
Lordtoss began excavating the earth with successive bursts of earth-attribute magic. Jin joined in, alternating his own Dig spells with the young man's. Hanako kept a sharp eye on the surroundings, while Hope focused on clearing away the loosened soil.
After ten minutes of work, the hole was nearly ten meters wide and six meters deep.
"There's something here," Lordtoss noticed first.
A portion of a metallic object had appeared through the dirt. Its color suggested it was made of adamantite—the indestructible metal.
"Hope, clear the rest of the soil."
"Understood."
Hope took over the task by hand. Fifteen minutes later, an oblong, egg-shaped object was fully revealed at the bottom of the pit. It was roughly two meters long and one meter wide.
"Reiko is in here."
Jin was certain. Carved into the adamantite surface was the name "Reiko" in Japanese.
If I hadn't come... would this container have become her coffin?
Pushing the dark thought aside, he examined the vessel for a way to open it. However, it appeared to be a single, seamless piece. There was only one way to open such a thing: magi-craft.
Adamantite had an incredibly high resistance to magic. Processing it was a feat likely only Jin or his immediate circle could achieve.
"Forming."
Jin cast the spell without hesitation. The metal reshaped itself, and the container slid open. Liquid immediately began to pour out. It was ethenol, a fluid saturated with free ether, used here like amniotic fluid for preservation. Magical beast materials would not degrade when stored in a high-ether environment.
Once the ethenol had finished draining, a black-haired automaton was revealed, lying quietly inside.
"...Reiko..."
Jin had finally found her.
At the sound of his voice, her eyes fluttered open.
"Father...?"
"Reiko!"
She sat up and threw herself into his arms.
"...I found you... I finally... found you again, Father."
"You did a good job waiting for me."
"Yes..."
For Reiko, it was a reunion that had been three hundred years in the making, spanning the centuries since Jin's death in their original era.